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Six Hitless Innings For Harvey In Game 1 — And Finally Some Support At the Plate

ATLANTA, GA - JUNE 18: Matt Harvey #33 of the New York Mets pitches against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field on June 18, 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia. Game 1 of a day-night doubleheader. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) Matt Harvey (Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)

By PAUL NEWBERRY, AP Sports Writer

ATLANTA (AP) _ Matt Harvey finally got some run support.

Just enough to fend off another Atlanta comeback.

Harvey pitched six hitless innings, John Buck homered and the New York Mets held on for a 4-3 victory over the Braves in the first game of a doubleheader Tuesday.

“It’s one of those days where it was jumping out nice and I was hitting spots,” Harvey said. “Certain days you wake up and you feel good and you can let it go. Today was one of those days.”

The Mets had scored only 18 runs in Harvey’s previous 10 starts while he was in the game. Largely because of that, he had eight no-decisions in a stretch of nine appearances before a hard-luck 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in his last outing, snapping a stretch of 14 consecutive starts without a loss dating to his final appearance of 2012.

Harvey (6-1) didn’t allow a hit until Jason Heyward’s fluke infield single leading off the seventh, but the right-hander tired in the eighth as the Braves tried to rally for the second straight game. Trailing 4-0, Atlanta scored three runs and had the bases loaded before Bobby Parnell, the fourth Mets pitcher of the inning, fanned Chris Johnson to end the threat. Parnell earned his 10th save with a scoreless ninth.

“I’m frustrated because I ran out of gas,” Harvey said. “I shouldn’t have gone out there knowing I was probably pretty much done. I gave them a chance to come back and put our team in a position to lose.

“I’m kicking myself for that.”

Harvey had a career-high 13 strikeouts and surrendered just three hits, though he was charged with all three Atlanta runs.

“He has electric stuff,” Atlanta’s Dan Uggla said. “He was throwing everything for strikes on both sides of the plate. His fastball was anywhere from 95 to 100 (mph). You’ve got to tip your hat to him.”

Atlanta opened the five-game series against its NL East rival with the team’s 21st comeback win of the season, a rain-delayed 2-1 victory that ended at 1:22 a.m. _ less than 12 hours before the start of the start of the day-night doubleheader.

Matt Harvey, Mets (Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)

Dillon Gee took a 1-0 lead to the ninth, but Freddie Freeman won it for the Braves with a two-run homer. Only Kansas City has more come-from-behind victories than the Braves.

“Even though we were down 4-0, we still felt like we had a chance, especially at home.” Uggla said. “We’ve had a lot of magic at home this year.”

Not this time. Rookie Alex Wood (0-1) lost in his first career start, lasting only three innings and struggling with his command.

The Braves didn’t come close to a hit off Harvey through six innings, their only baserunners on a pair of walks in the third. Finally, Heyward reached safely on perhaps the weakest ball hit off the New York starter all day _ a slow dribbler up the first-base line.

Harvey came off the mound to field it and flipped to first base, but there was no one there to catch it. Lucas Duda, making just his second start of the season at first, charged in and left the bag uncovered.

New York padded its lead with two runs in the eighth, just enough to hold off the Braves. In the bottom half, Gerald Laird led off with a walk, Uggla reached on a bad-hop single and Andrelton Simmons knocked out Harvey with Atlanta’s first clean hit, a sharp single between shortstop and third base. Jordan Schafer singled off LaTroy Hawkins to bring in two runs, and the Mets made another pitching change with runners at first and third, bringing on towering lefty Scott Rice to face Heyward.

Heyward lined a double off Duda’s glove to make it 4-3. After Rice intentionally walked Freeman to load the bases, Parnell struck out Johnson.

The Braves fanned 16 times in all.

Another young Mets pitcher, touted prospect Zack Wheeler, was scheduled to make his debut in the nightcap as New York showed off what it hopes will be the future cornerstones of its long rebuilding job.

While Wheeler will head back to the minors after the start, he is expected to rejoin the team within days. Meanwhile, Harvey is already one of the NL’s most dominant starters in his first full season. He eclipsed his previous career high of 12 strikeouts in a May 7 game against the Chicago White Sox.

The free-swinging Braves looked especially feeble during a stretch that began when Reid Johnson struck out to end the third. Harvey fanned the side in the fourth _ Heyward, Freeman and Chris Johnson _ before starting the fifth with two more Ks by Laird and Uggla. Simmons finally ended the streak of six straight strikeouts with a groundout.

All six hitters in the stretch went down swinging.

The Mets broke through in the third against Wood after the rookie struck out the first two hitters. Daniel Murphy singled to left and moved to second on a balk. Marlon Byrd hit a grounder to third, where Chris Johnson made a nifty grab on a tricky hop but double-pumped before throwing to first. Byrd beat it out and Murphy never stopped running, coming all the way around to score from second on what ruled an infield hit.

Wood, who had been pitching out of the Atlanta bullpen, was lifted after throwing 73 pitches in three innings, having allowed just two hits with three walks and five strikeouts. He had problems keeping his glasses on and battled a cut on his pitching hand.

“I wish my pitch count was a little lower,” Wood said. “But it was definitely a good experience.”

The Mets quickly extended their lead against Cory Rasmus in the fourth. Buck led off with his 12th homer of the season into the left-field seats.

Notes: Quintanilla snapped an 0-for-22 slump with a seventh-inning single off Cory Gearrin. … Rasmus, who was called up as Atlanta’s 26th player for the doubleheader, has given up four homers in three appearances with the Braves. … Simmons was the only Atlanta starter who didn’t strike out.